The Grand Scheme Of Things
by Donna Lynn
Summary: What if things had gone differently between Max and Alec in the episode "Designate This". ::READ AUTHOR'S NOTE::
1. Chapter 1

The Grand Scheme of Things 

Author: Donna Lynn

E-mail: **dpierce99@hotmail.com**

Website: **http://www.darkangelsfanfic.com**

Status: Incomplete

Category: Drama/Angst/Romance

Spoilers/Rumors: "Designate This"

Season: 2

Rating: R

Content Warning: This story contains language, violence, and sexual situations. 

Summary: What if things had gone differently in "Designate This" for Max? What if things had gone differently between her and Alec? 

Author's Note: This is my take on how things would have gone if Max hadn't escaped from Manticore in "Designate This". Another thing Max is X5-452 and Alec is X5-494 just in case you don't know there designation's. 

Pairing: Max/Alec

Disclaimer: The characters of "Dark Angel" do not belong to me. So **_DO NOT_ **sue me!

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Chapter 1 

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Part I

Max sat on her bunk in silence. It was after lights out and she expected the guard to come by anytime to make sure she was in her cell. They kept a double watch on her to make sure she didn't leave after lights out. Even with that they would still have random checks and that made it hard to time her little excursions she had. 

It'd been three months since she'd been back at Manticore. Not much had changed in the last twelve years to her. The drill instructors were still assholes and all the others were still brainwashed to the point of believing they actually mean something to the facility. Boy, were they in for a surprise. 

She heard the guard coming down the hall and stood from her bunk and awaited his entrance. A few seconds later her cell door opened and the lights came on. A man stepped into her vision and her eyes widened. 

"Ben?" she asked quietly. 

She flashed back to when she last seen him. "Max, " Ben said. 

"Who?" he asked confused. As soon as he came in the room her eyes widened. He was told she might have a strange reaction to him. 

She stared at him a moment too long then answered him with a shrug of her shoulders. "You look like someone I used to know." She backed away from him slowly and examined him from head to toe. It was uncanny how much he looked like Ben. 

He nodded, "X5-493…the one who went psycho. I'm his twin X5-494."

"He was confused, " she said in Ben's defense. 

"Yeah ok all I know is that I had to spend six months in psy-ops to make sure it wasn't genetic…let's get this thing over with shall we, " he removed his shirt and tossed it on her bunk. 

She looked at him confused, "What are you doing?" She couldn't help but notice how he looked. He looked like he was chiseled out of stone.

"I'm your breeding partner, " he said bluntly. 

Max flinched in anger, "My what!?"

"We've been given orders to copulate every night until you get pregnant, " he said in a conversational tone. 

"That's sick!" she yelled. 

"Take your clothes off, " he ordered as he undone his pants. 

She folded her arms over her chest and shifted to her right hip, "No way." She had a determined look on her face as she said it. 

494 looked up and seen the determined look. "We have orders 452, " he stated.

"I don't give a shit about your orders, " she said retorted back.

494 was starting to get irritated with 452. He didn't understand why she was refusing. Until he walked into her cell he wasn't too happy about this assignment either. When he was told he was paired off with the rogue X5-452 as a breeding partner he thought _'oh great'_. He heard rumors about her before and after she was brought back to Manticore. She didn't like authority. 

He came to her cell expecting damaged goods so do speak. She'd been on the outside for over ten years. But, when he entered her cell she was nothing like he expected. She was beautiful he thought. _'Maybe this assignment won't be so bad after all'. _He decided to try and coax her. "Do you know what will happen tomorrow if we report an unsuccessful copulation?" he asked folding his arms in front of him making the muscles flex in his arms and chest. 

This didn't go unnoticed to Max. She shrugged her shoulders as if she didn't care hoping to distract herself from his delicious looking body.

He walked closer to her as he said, "I'll tell you what will happen. Both of us are going to be thrown back into reindoctrination so fast it will make our heads spin. I for one don't want that and I'm pretty sure you don't either."

She titled her head to the right and whispered, "I won't tell if you won't tell." At this point he was standing within arms reach of her. 

"I won't have to tell eventually, " he said stepping closer to her. "They'll begin to get suspicious when you don't turn up pregnant anytime soon, " he said. 

That last part concerned her. She was brought out of her thoughts when he let his arms fall to his sides. "Look, I don't mean to be pushy, but we are a little pressed for time, " he said impatient. 

"And how long is that?" she asked in a smart-aleck tone. 

"An hour, " he said. 

"Hmm, " she said as she walked past him to her bunk. She had expected him to stop her in some way or say something. Instead, he just stood where he was with his back to her. She sat on her bunk and looked at him to see if he was going to turn around. She ended up meeting his backside, which was very nice she had to admit. His back muscles were incredible. She looked further down and silently wished he wasn't wearing any pants so she could see his thighs and calves…and his ass of course. She felt flushed but sick at the same time. 

Suddenly, he turned and caught her checking him out, but said nothing about it. "Fine, whatever…have it your way…move over, " he said as he walked to her bunk. He picked his shirt up and put it back on. When she didn't move he went to sit next to her which was a big mistake on his part. She grabbed him around the throat and slammed him against the wall. Before she knew what she was doing she was sitting on his lap. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear earlier, " she said dangerously close to his face. 

He didn't say anything just stared at her. That's when she realized the position she was in. She released her grip on his throat and he grabbed her wrists tightly. "You made yourself perfectly clear 452, chill out." She struggled against his hands, "My name is Max…" she didn't get to finish as he released his grip on her wrist and grabbed her by the hips and tossed her off his lap next to him on the bunk. As he did this she couldn't help but gasp. She felt a sudden rush of heat rise on her neck. 

He noticed the confused look on her face and thought it was because of his slang. "I took Communication and Verbal Usage when I was cleared for my solo missions, " he said as he made himself comfortable. 

"You mean your assassinations?" she clarified. 

He closed his eyes and sighed, "It was my job so if you want to 'bust my chops' about it go ahead I'm not listening." She caught his slip up immediately. _'It was his job?' _

She knew he was hiding something. _'Maybe he couldn't hack it.' _She didn't bother to ask why. He would just avoid the question. She stood from the bunk and walked to the other side of the room and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. He took advantage and laid down on the bunk and made himself comfortable. "Do me a favor and wake me up in about half an hour."

"Sure, no problem, " she said faking kindness. 

For half an hour she sat and stared at the walls and found herself glancing toward him once in a while. He unnerved her to no end. She really couldn't blame him for his behavior he didn't know any better. Manticore was all he knew besides his solo missions, which apparently he went sour on. He'd mentioned earlier about not wanting to be thrown back into reindoctrination. That gave her the impression he'd messed up big time in a humane manner.

She glanced at him and shut her eyes quickly. _He's not Ben, he's not Ben, Max._ She opened her eyes and looked at him again. He was beautiful, there was no denying that. She'd gone three months without running into X5-494. She suspected Renfro had something to do with that. In her warped mind she probably thought Max would welcome X5-494 with open arms thinking he was Ben.

She then realized she was supposed to wake him up and he was sleeping soundly on her bunk. She stood from the floor and made her way over to him. She stopped beside him and looked down at him. Her eyes watered for a split second then quickly blinked them back. _'He's not Ben Max don't compare them.'_

She reached down and roughly shook his shoulder, "Hey get up and get out."

He stirred and looked up to her, "I'm up I'm up." He stood from the bunk and made his way to the door. Then he turned and faced her with a cocky grin, "See you in the morning 452."

"My name is Max, " she said irritated. "You should have a name too I hate calling you 494." She saw the disgusted look on his face and almost laughed. "I think I'll call you Alec. You know…for smart-aleck, " she shrugged. 

"Alec, " he said. He let the name roll off his tongue. He kinda liked it. "I can live with that."

"Good because my next choice was Dick, " she said with a smile

He smiled a mischievous grin, "Catch your act tomorrow…Max." He opened the cell door and left leaving Max to herself. She let the smile fade from her face and let one of worry cross.

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Well what do you guys think? I have other chapters of this done and I'll post more if I get good reviews. 


	2. Chapter 2

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'Well, I wonder if he'll tell Renfro that we didn't copulate. Ugh…I hate that word. Why don't they just say have sex…'

Max was brought out of her thoughts when Alec joined her in the inspection line. 

"Morning 452, sleep well, " he asked quietly. 

"Yea, " she said with attitude. 

"Good…you're gonna need it, " he said. 

"Fall in!" an instructor ordered. Immediately everyone paired off with his or her partner. In the corner of her eye Max saw Renfro and two guards headed their way with a smile on her face. _'She probably gets off on this.'_

She glanced at Alec to see if she could read his face. He hadn't given her any indication of what he was going to tell Renfro. She knew she wasn't going to say anything so that left him to report. Renfro probably preferred it that way anyhow. That's when she heard a failure.

"Copulation was unsuccessful ma'am, " the female X5 said. 

"Explain, " Renfro ordered. 

"X5-698 failed to achieve minimum mission requirements, ma'am, " the female X5 explained without hesitation. 

The two guards come up to the pair and take X5-698 while Renfro moves on to Max and Alec. 

"Report, " Renfro said. 

Max nor Alec spoke. Renfro looked at them suspiciously then asked again, "Report."

"Successful copulation between myself and X5-452, ma'am…twice, " he said convincingly. Max tried not to let the surprised expression cross her face. _'I can't believe he didn't tell her. He could've gotten a new breeding partner and got me in trouble if he would've told the truth. Why?'_

Renfro looked surprised, "Excellent, 452. What would your boyfriend say?"

Max wanted to reach out and break her neck, but when she thought about it she would be dead as soon as she laid a hand on her.

"Tell me something. Did you receive any medical treatment when you were on the outside?" Renfro asked curiously. 

"No ma'am, " Max said blandly.

"Then how do you explain the X7 copy of you suffering from late stage of progeria?" she asked. "You're an X5 and you haven't shown any signs of progeria."

"I don't know what to tell you ma'am, " Max said not really concerned about the situation. 

"Then I guess we're just gonna have to do spinals on you both so we can run a DNA analysis. Or maybe you've just been lucky. For all we know, that could still happen to you, " Renfro sighed. "Everyone is dismissed to his or her barracks, " Renfro ordered. 

Max and Alec stood to attention as Renfro walked away with the instructor. When she was out of range they both breathed a sigh of relief. Before Max could say anything Alec turned to her. 

"I hope you have a better plan than lying at every inspection we have until they figure it out, " he said quickly. 

She knew he was right. Sooner or later they would know something was going on. She did have a backup plan but she really didn't like it. "Can you come to my cell in half an hour?" she asked defeated. 

"Yea no problem why?" he asked wondering what she had planned. 

"Just do it, " she walked past him and out of the courtyard with him watching her go with wonder. 

As he watched her leave he wondered what she had in mind. With her having been on the outside for so long he was a little excited to here what she'd come up with. He'd heard rumors about her. How she escaped, most of her close call with Lydecker. Now, that he'd met her he wanted to see her in action.


	3. Chapter 3

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Part I

Half an hour later Alec walked down the hall in Max's cellblock. He approached her door, unlocked it and entered. He found her pacing her cell with…was that a scared face? He shut the door and faced her folding his arms over his chest. 

"So what's with the meeting?" he asked curiously.

"I have a way to cover our asses, " she stated.

"The only thing that is gonna cover our asses is to do the mission, " he said bluntly. 

"Exactly, " she said plainly. 

This shocked him. _'Did I just here what I think I heard?'_

"Can you get some protection, " she asked. She was slightly embarrassed about asking a complete stranger if he had protection so when they had sex he wouldn't get her pregnant. The whole aspect of having sex with Alec was both exhilarating and frightening. It was frightening because she'd be betraying Logan. It was exhilarating because he was desirable and she was lonely and desperately wanted some kind of companionship. 

"Oh, I get it, we do it but with protection so you won't get pregnant. Sorry if I don't see how that's going to cover our asses, " he said with a slight smirk on his face. "If they examine me they'll be able to tell I've had sex recently and they won't think anything else about it for awhile, " she said desperately.

The look on her face tugged at his heart. He didn't know when or how he became infatuated with her, but he was nonetheless. Alec wasn't a Manticore loyalist. He did whatever means necessary to survive. Manticore kept a roof over his head and clean clothes on his back along with three square meals a day. Behind their backs he ran a black market within the walls of Manticore. It wasn't beyond him to do things out of line, but Max was. "I can get some protection, but I'm sure you already know this those things aren't exactly one hundred percent efficient, " he said with a lighter tone. 

"It's our only way, " she said with sad eyes. 

Alec sighed and unfolded his arms and headed for the door. "I'll see you tonight, " he said cocky. 

"Tonight it is, " she said putting her hands in her pockets. "Is there a particular kind you like?" he asked trying to be serious. 

If looks could kill he would be dead. 

He put his hands up in defense, "I'm just asking." He quickly left her cell before she broke out a can of whoop ass on him. She stared at the closed door and wondered, _'What am I doing?'_

She was stuck between a rock and a heartache. Alec was a major distraction. The fact that he looked exactly like Ben didn't help either. He was more distracting in the way he wasn't your everyday Manticore loyalist. There was something about him though, and it wasn't that he looked like Ben. He was nothing like Ben. They acted completely different. Ben was never cocky and arrogant like Alec. Whatever it was, it was much deeper.

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Part II

"Director Renfro, when would you like X5-452 and X5-494's evaluation scheduled?" the doctor asked. 

Renfro sat in her chair and leaned back, "At the end of the week pull both of them out of training and examine them at the same time. I don't want any way for either of them to deter the outcome of there examinations." 

The doctor nodded and entered it on his pocket computer. "X5-452's tests I'll have back by the end of the week. So far I haven't found any evidence of Werner Syndrome."

Renfro stood from her chair and made her way to stand in front of the doctor. "Doctor, she's an X5. Her X7 copy is in the late stages of progeria. Besides, the specific X7 DNA sequencing she is an exact copy. Now, I want to know why X5-452 hasn't shown any signs of it, and her impeccable health state from being out on the outside for so long."

"Yes director, " he nodded. 

"Now, do you have X5-494's specs back?" she asked. 

"His will be back the same time as X5-452's, " he said. 

Renfro went back behind her desk and leaned on it, "I want to be informed as soon as you get both their tests back."

The doctor nodded and left her office. 

Renfro sat in her chair and pulled herself closer and looked down at two files on her desk marked X5-452 and X5-494. 

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Yes there is a plot to this story! Review and I'll post more chapters!


	4. Chapter 4

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Part I

Max paced her cell repeatedly. At the moment she was in lock down so do speak. No training to do and Renfro wasn't pestering her. It would be another couple of hours before Alec would be back to her cell. So, she stood from her bunk and lifted it. She removed to bricks from the wall and placed them on her bunk and covered them up with her blanket. "You tired me out 494, " she said to herself as she pulled the bunk down. She poked her head through the hole where the bricks were and looked down. She smiled and went into the hole feet first and slides down the pipe and landed in the boiler room area of the basement. Carefully, she looked around and suddenly a man with long hair and a doglike face rushed at her, growling and barking.

"Easy…easy. Relax, big fella, " she carefully. 

"You relax, little fella, " the man spoke.

"Wow, you can talk, " she said surprised. 

"Wow, " the man mimicked.

"I…I didn't mean anything by it. I've just…I've never seen anyone that looks like you before. So what happened? They put too much canine DNA in your cocktail?" she asked in a conversational tone.

He sniffed the air, "Cat. Cat in your cocktail."

Max shrugged, "Yeah well, don't' hold it against me."

He growled lightly

"I dig your teeth can I see 'em? Come on, let me see. I'm not going to hurt you, " she said with a gentle smile. She approached and he snapped at her. "It's okay." He resisted then let her see them. She smiled, "Those are cool."

"You're an X5, " he said.

"Yeah, you can call me Max, " she offered. 

She extended her hand and he just looked at it. She took his hand and shook it. He smiled and began to shake her hand back. She released his hand and started to look around.

"Max…Max…Max, Father named you?" he asked as she observed her surroundings. 

She shook her head, "Nope. I named me."

"Father named me...Joshua, " he said. 

Max stopped as if she just realized what he was talking about. "Father? You don't mean Lydecker do you?"

Joshua growled, "No, father…Sandman…"

Max narrowed her eyes, "Sandman named you?"

Joshua nodded.

She nodded, "Okay."

Joshua heard a noise and said, "Guard." He waved his hand at Max to instruct her to be quiet. He rushed to the inside window and pointed, "Guard."

Max walked over to the window and peered in. Realization dawned on her, "So they don't know you're down here?"

Joshua shook his head, "No."

"What about this Sandman father of yours?" she asked.

"Left me here…here I am, " Joshua explained. 

Max looked confused, "He just left you here?"

Joshua nodded, "Made me, then left me. True enough."

"That's pretty whack, " she said sympathetic. 

"He made us all. I was first…special. Then more like me...more like you...more people…" he pointed to the ceiling. "…up there people. Father lost in all the people. I'm here, waiting."

"It's too bad you don't have a room with a view. You know a window. I'm trying to find a way out of here, " she said as she looked around the room. 

Joshua put a hand to halt her, "Ah, wait." He glanced through the hole in the wall. Then opened a panel underneath and smiled at her. Max smiled and said, "Thanks big fella."

Joshua smiled. 

A few moments later they came up to a storage room. There were large storage crates piled by the wall with cans on top. Joshua walked over to one and removed the top to reveal a barred window. "Room with a view, " he stated. He and Max moved the top crate to floor and Max got on top of the others and tugged on the bars. 

"This is gonna take a while, " Max asked.

Joshua shook his head, "Uh no, no exit. X7's in the forest."

"How many, " she asked solidly. 

"One, " he sniffed. 

Max looked out the window to the grounds and saw an armed X7 emerge from the woods. "Yep, there he is. I think I can take him, " she said. 

Joshua shook his head, "Uh oh."

She looked at him with a lopsided grin, "Come on, there's only one."

"Lots of one, " he said shaking his head. 

She looked back out the window and saw more X7's come out of the woods. "Oh, lots of ones, " she said looking back to Joshua.

Joshua nodded, "Pretty whack."

The X7's faced each other and stand still.

"What are they doing?" she asked curiously. 

"Talking, " he said.

"I don't hear anything, " she said observing the X7's.

"I do, " he said touching his ear. 

She realized what he meant. "Must be in the ultrasonic range."

"Bat, bat in there cocktail, " he said. 

She looked back out to see the X7's finished talking. "I'll just have to wait till there's a gap between them to get through, " she said getting off the crates. She started to replace the crate when Joshua helped her. "Thanks, big fella, " she patted his shoulder. 

Joshua smiled, "Your welcome."

"I gotta blaze. I'll be back tomorrow. Thanks for everything, Joshua, " she smiled as she held out her hand to him. He took her hand and shook it in return, "You blaze."

"See ya later, " she said as she jogged off leaving Joshua to himself, again. 

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Part II

Alec walked down the many halls of Manticore. He was on his way to get the 'protection' he and Max needed. It would be easy for him to get some he had his own black market going with pretty much all the guards and most the medical staff. 

He came up on a lab area and walked inside. He looked around and found his contact looking into a microscope. 

"Steve, " Alec said cheerfully. "I got a favor to ask…"

Steve shot up from the microscope and rolled his eyes, "What ever it is no. The last time I helped I almost got myself killed."

"Come on Steve I just need some condoms, " Alec said walking toward him. 

"Condoms, what do you need condoms for? The X5's have been paired off with breeding partners for procreation, " Steve said confused. 

Alec's face cringed, "Please man, to sleep with the same woman over and over again gets old after a while."

"Who's you breeding partner?" Steve asked curiously. 

Alec shrugged, "452 why?"

Steve raised his eyebrows, "The rogue? Somehow I don't think you'll get bored. She might show you a thing or two."

"She's okay, " Alec smiled. 

"So let me guess, she doesn't want to get pregnant?" Steve asked going over to a counter. 

"You guessed right, " Alec said walking over to lean on the counter Steve was getting the condoms out of. 

Steve handed him a small box and sighed, "You didn't get them from me." 

Alec slapped him on the shoulder, "You're a good man Steve." Alec pushed away from the counter and made his way to the door. 

"Hey, " Steve said as Alec reached the door. 

Alec turned and looked at him. 

"What's she like?" Steve asked completely serious. 

Alec knew what he meant. He wanted to know what she was like to get along with. Alec tilted his head for a moment, "She's different…interesting I guess you could say. See you around." He turned and walked out before Steve could ask anymore questions.

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Okay, after this chapter I don't have anything written so it may be a little while before I post anymore. Reason it took so long to get this one posted is it looked like no one was reading it. Hope you liked it, enjoy. 


	5. Chapter 5

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NOT AN UPDATENOTIFICATION

4-13-02 was the last time this was updated and I've tried to do some more writing but I can't get myself into the plot anymore. It's been done a million times and it's so old that I don't think anyone would read or pay attention to it anyway. With that I'm going to tell you with regret that I'm not going to update this. I want to say thank you to everyone that has reviewed and has asked me to continue this, I'm sorry.

Thanks, Donna Lynn


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